Philadelphia Eagles: 5 potential cornerback trade targets

Trumaine Johnson

Now to go from a high price rental to a low-cost experiment.

While Trumaine Johnson, just last offseason, signed a five-year, $72.5 million contract with the Jets – topped off with a $20 million signing bonus and $45 million in total guarantees – the eighth-year cornerback has vastly underperformed his average annual salary of $14.5 million.

Granted, that sounds like a fairly high price-per-season for a corner who was benched after Week 1 and only played 12 snaps in the two subsequent. However, some reports have shown a feeling that New York or a team to trade for Johnson will restructure his contract. Bill Barnwell, a staff writer for ESPN, believes Johnson, trade or not, will be playing for another team come the 2020 season. He also reported the 29-year-old has no more guaranteed money left on his contract following this season, which could also help allude to a possible contract restructure.

Though Johnson may have struggled so far this season with the Jets, he put on quite a performance last year with the Rams.

In just 10 games of action, Johnson was able to intercept four passes, force a fumble, and logged 40 combined tackles. Of course, when the Jets offered the contract, this is the type of player they were expecting, and well so far, it hasn’t worked out this way.

Barnwell has the Eagles giving up a bargain bin deal of a 2021 seventh-round pick for the cornerback, and while that seems fairly cheap, I imagine the Jets’ new front office, lead by ex-Eagles VP of Player Operations Joe Douglas, would be more than willing to get the 29-year-old off their books. As much as it could add depth and another veteran to the Eagle’s defensive backs, it’s still a risky play with a low floor but high ceiling that Philly shouldn’t give too much for.